


Unexpected Possibilities

by et_tu_lj



Series: Two Sides to Every Story [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Best Friends, Chez Sandrine (Star Trek), Drinking, First Dates, First Kiss, M/M, Romance, Singing, Songfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-03-09 10:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13479075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/et_tu_lj/pseuds/et_tu_lj
Summary: Tom realizes that someone unexpected is attracted to him and has to decide how to react. Contains elements of Paris/Kim and Paris/Torres, with Paris/EMH as the main pairing.





	Unexpected Possibilities

**Author's Note:**

> There are two sides to every story, and this one is no different. Unexpected Possibilities tells Tom's story, while Witchcraft tells the Doctor's version of events. They are companion pieces, which can be read in either order, and each contain some unique scenes.
> 
> Set after season 4, canon-compliant other than assuming Tom and B'Elanna broke up at some point. (Completed fic to be reposted over the coming weeks.)
> 
> Credit to: Brad Harrison/Noah Mannick and the Subu war camp are from Pathways, by Jeri Taylor, one of the official ST: Voyager novels. This story also includes a drunken performance of Witchcraft, as popularized by Frank Sinatra, with lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.

Well, at least he didn’t bring back any leola root. There was already too much of that on the ship’s menu to begin with. I looked in dismay at the table full of strange plants in front of me. Neelix had just returned from a foraging mission, and had found more than thirty new plant specimens that he wanted to use in the galley. And as the acting medical assistant on duty, it became my job to catalog each sample’s genetic and physical characteristics, as well as look for any medical threats. Although Neelix was trained to avoid poisonous plants, his knowledge used Talaxian physiology as its basis. He’d once caused the two Bolians on board to throw up nonstop for two days with his grandmother’s recipe for Exalion Stew. After that incident, the captain had decreed that all foodstuffs be run through sickbay for comparisons against personnel medical files before being given to Neelix.

I entered the data from about half the plants into the medical database, then paused to take a break for a minute before finishing. I don’t mind sickbay duty most of the time, but the routine stuff like this really gets to me. I don’t mind working with the Doctor, especially now that he has developed a decent bedside manner, but for every hour I serve in sickbay, I can’t help but feel it was an hour I should’ve been at the helm. The work was usually easy enough, and I do like helping people, but it couldn’t compare to the excitement of feeling the ship humming beneath me, knowing that it’d do whatever I wanted with the run of my hand across the controls.

When I looked up, I saw that Brad Harrison and Noah Mannick had come in sometime while I was processing the plants. Noah had apparently done something to his ankle and the Doc was attempting to fix it, but Brad kept getting in the way.

I heard the Doctor order Brad to leave sickbay and started toward the group before the situation could get any worse. The damn fruits could wait. Although the Doc’s people skills have improved a lot since he was first activated, he can sometimes cause interstellar incidents when it comes to dealing with the worried loved ones of his patients.

I sidled up to Brad before he had a chance to react. I put my arm around his shoulders and gently steered him away, murmuring reassurances in his ear as I moved. He seemed a bit dazed and followed without resistance. Poor kid. Judging by the Doctor’s attitude, the injury couldn’t be that serious, but that wasn’t what was important, not to Brad anyway. The two had just started to get serious about their relationship a few weeks before the Subu incident. The two men had ended up in an alien POW camp, along with a bunch of other crewmen, myself included. The experience wasn’t exactly pleasant for any of us, but their relationship had somehow survived the stress. Brad, however, seemed a little worse for wear. He blamed himself for not being able to protect Noah, and had been a bit overprotective ever since.

“Come on Brad, you know the Doc can fix just about anything you can imagine if you let him work.” I tried to be as reassuring as possible, saying everything I would want to hear if our situations had been reversed. Gods knew, I understood how the man felt. Every time something happened to Harry, I just wanted to swoop in and shoot anything that tried to get in my way. I’d be damned if I would let anything bad happen to Harry while I had anything to say about it. And the two of us were just friends.

Looking over Brad’s shoulder, I saw the Doc signal me. I moved back toward the Doctor, Brad following automatically. I kept talking softly until Brad realized that the Doc had finished and his lover was ready to go. I smiled to myself as both men grinned at each other, obviously relieved. “Good as new,” Noah said, smiling up at his partner, and the Doc nodded his agreement.

The two men started out the door, joking about Brad’s excessive worry and whispering softly to each other. They turned back at the door. “Thanks, Doctor.” It was Noah who spoke, but Brad’s eyes clearly expressed his gratitude for my thoughtfulness as well.

The two continued on their way, and I watched them with a smile on my face. Ah, the joys of love. It’d been a while since I felt that way about anyone. B’Elanna was the only one I’d had a real relationship with since we’d all been swept to this quadrant and that had been over for a while. I’d really loved her, but we just didn’t seem to understand each other well enough to make it work. After a while of being really good friends who just happened to have sex, we decided to go back to just being friends.

The only person on the ship who really did understand me that well was Harry, and we hadn’t discussed that possibility yet. Not that I hadn’t thought about it, quite a lot actually, but I need a friend more than I need a lover. For me anyway, friends are much harder to come by. I’d keep trying to get him over Libby, and if that ever succeeded, then I’d worry about the rest of it. While I thought it was a little naive to still be faithful to someone sixty thousand light years away, it was important to Harry. And the man’s my best friend. If anything ever happened between us, I wanted the chance to love him, not corrupt him.

“Thank you, Mr. Paris, for your timely assistance,” the Doc said as he turned back toward sickbay. I tried to get my mind back on my work, focusing all my attention on the Doctor. Gods, now I was daydreaming about Harry while on duty? “With Mr. Harrison,” the Doctor prompted.

And I understood. The Doctor was thanking me for distracting Brad while he worked. I laughed inwardly. I was just trying to reassure Brad, not save the Doc. But the Doc wasn’t programmed to understand that any more than he was programmed to deal with Brad. He’d come a long way since he was first brought online, but some things you just had to be human to understand.

Wait a minute. I could swear the Doctor was blushing. Very faintly, but definitely blushing. But he was a hologram. Wasn’t capable of blushing to express embarrassment, or anything else for that matter. Was he? Of course, I knew the Doc had added sexual subroutines into his program, so who knew what he was capable of expressing now. Hmm… what exactly would make a hologram blush?

“Are you feeling alright, Doc? I could’ve sworn you just….”

But the Doctor cut me off before I could continue. I stared at him, intensely concentrating on every nuance of his reaction. “I assure you, Mr. Paris, my program is functioning properly.” Again the telling blush. And his eyes seemed to hold a note of desperation, not able to meet my questioning gaze. This was clearly denial. I was an expert on that and knew it when I saw it. But what would a hologram be in denial about?

“I have experienced a few minor errors in my program recently and haven’t had the time to properly analyze them yet. I assure you, it is not significant enough to affect my medical abilities. I will engage my internal system analysis as soon as possible and this should correct the errors easily.” The Doc was hedging the issue, clear as day. “If this does not repair the problem, I will contact Ms. Torres immediately. I assure you, Mr. Paris, I am fine.”

I doubt that, but decided to let it slide for the moment. Maybe it really was just a simple program error. I’d let the Doc try to deal with it on his own. Whatever it was, I know from experience that no man in denial should be forced to face his demons until he was ready for them. No way I was going to do that to a friend, hologram or not, and that’s what the Doc had become to me. “Sure, Doc. I guess I’ll finish up the bioanalysis on Neelix’s newest fruits. Let me know if you need anything.”

Right now, I really did have to finish with those damned fruits. Or vegetables… whatever they were. Some of these Delta Quadrant plant species defied Terran classifications. The sooner I finished with the plants, the sooner I got to leave sickbay. Chakotay would be in command tonight, but Harry and I still needed to find a ploy to keep Janeway away from the holodeck tonight. The engineering staff had constructed a small still in Maintenance Access 473 off of engineering, and there was a party tonight to celebrate. Something the command team of the ship definitely couldn’t be allowed to participate in. I still had a lot to do before then.

I hurried through the rest of the plants, processing them as quickly as possible, but making sure not to miss anything important in the process. Didn’t want to make someone have a severe allergic reaction in the mess hall or anything. After I finished, I stuck my head in the Doc’s office to let him know I was leaving.

“See ya at Sandrines later?” The Doctor nodded. I initially had to convince him that Sandrines was a valuable opportunity for perfecting his bedside manner, but once I got him started, the Doc enjoyed himself too much to miss it. Although I doubt he’d admit it. B’Elanna had even managed to draw him into the moonshine conspiracy by convincing him that it was his medical duty to examine all alcohol in case of contamination. I took one last look at the odd assortment of plants on the table and smiled. Free at last. I smiled in relief as I left sickbay. I had more important things to do. I had a party to plan.

The engineering still had started small, but had become a shipwide secret. Tonight’s party was in celebration of achieving shipwide distribution, so only the people directly involved were allowed this evening. As the project grew, it’d definitely become a team effort. B’Elanna and Joe Carey made the stuff, Chell smuggled it to sickbay, the Doc inspected it for quality, and I delivered it to the rest of the crew. Harry monitored Tuvok’s inspection schedule and alerted us when it was in danger of being discovered. In case of an inspection, the equipment was temporarily hidden with Neelix.

Although I wasn’t sure how much Vorik was involved directly, he helped B’Elanna and Joe perfect the recipe when necessary. And we’d once escaped detention by having Vorik tell Tuvok that he’d checked all maintenance access ports in and around engineering and had detected no illegal activity. Tuvok didn’t think to question the honesty of a fellow Vulcan. And Vorik claimed that he hadn’t lied, but had merely exaggerated the truth under the orders of his commanding officer, in this case B’Elanna. Since Starfleet regulations didn’t specifically prohibit the manufacture of alcoholic substances, only their consumption onboard a starship, the still wasn’t technically illegal, only unauthorized.

I grinned. For all their logic, Vulcans had a surprisingly convenient morality when it served their purpose. Like when Tuvok had gone behind Janeway’s back to secure alien technology in direct violation of the prime directive, claiming that he was making the logical decision which her position as captain prevented her from making. Of course, I had to agree that the logical decision wasn’t always the moral one, but then I had never claimed to be a pacifist.

As I made my way to Harry’s quarters, I was struck with a thought of pure inspiration. I knew the perfect way to keep the captain busy this evening, without even arousing suspicion. We just needed to think up some scientific paradox. Something that looked simple to solve, but didn’t actually work when applied. Harry would know dozens of things like that. Harry could use his operations codes to feed the readings into the sensor logs, then B’Elanna could report it, and her own inability to solve it, just before she went off duty for the night. If I knew the captain at all, she would download the readings into her personal terminal and stay up all night drinking coffee and trying to figure it out. With an intellectual challenge like that, it’d be morning before it even occurred to her to think about anything else. She’d forget all about the holodeck. I was a genius. Now I just had to get Harry to help me work out the anomaly that’d keep Janeway up late.


End file.
